Part of Your Marketing is Customer Service!

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Customer Service: a top  way to market your business.

So you’ve gotten your marketing in place and maybe you are using mobile apps (if not, you should be!) or utilizing a combination of other ways.  You’re getting the people into your business and now you have to KEEP them! You have to take care of them while they are in your business so that they will come back.

Superior hospitality or customer service is still not common in spite of all of the “hoop-la” that surrounds it and all of the classes, books, and seminars touting all of the scripts and ways to provide service. It still escapes most business establishments, small and large. No corporation can mandate it and truly deliver just because they say they have it. As consumers, we are continually disappointed. Why is that?

You are doomed to fail in pleasing your customers if they don’t have a service mind set. The answer is simple; it starts with a person that truly wants to help other people. From retail stores, to wholesale suppliers, and, yes, even those in the hospitality industry, it starts with who you hire.

Customer Service: Interview

Particularly in the service industries, whoever does your interviewing, whether an HR generalist or department head or you, yourself, the following scenario MUST be posed:  “Tell me about a time when you went out of your way to help a customer; what was the situation and what did you do?” This cannot be allowed to slide by without an answer. It is the key to really understand your potential associate and how they will treat YOUR customers.

Another scenario is: “I’d like to hear about a time in a previous job where you had a serious complaint. Tell me what the complaint was and how you handled it.” Again, prompt for an answer even if they have to think for a moment or two. In both cases you are looking for the person who can think for themselves and who shows the ability to solve problems with a view to true customer service.

Customer Service: Personality

No matter what position is being applied for, the right answers to these two situations will give you your best candidates.  Skills can be taught but common sense, a GENUINE, CARING personality, and a smiling face cannot be taught. Once you’ve narrowed the field to the right personalities, then you can narrow further by skill levels.

I hope this commentary helps you in your quest for superior customer service. I am passionate about giving it AND about receiving it! You will certainly need the right people in place to succeed in your service business. So don’t neglect this important part of the process! Add elements of it to your mobile app marketing with an area provided there for customer feedback and social media.

These tips will all lead to better customer service! For more customer service hiring help, check this out:

http://www.dresserassociates.com/blog/hiring-for-the-best-attitude/

P.S.

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